Contact: Samuel B. Casey, 703-642-1070 ext. 3201

SPRINGFIELD, Virginia, September 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- One of CLS' most respected leaders and authors, Richard B. Couser, 67, of Concord, New Hampshire, died at home last week after a long battle with cancer.  Considered one of New Hampshire's most respected attorneys, Dick practiced law at Orr & Reno in Concord before moving to D'Amante, Couser, Steiner and Pellerin, gaining a reputation for diligence and integrity in the legal profession and earning repeated listings in the Best Lawyers in America, America's Leading Business Lawyers and Best of the U.S.  Dick was also an author who received the Book of the Year award from Your Church magazine for his legal treatise, Ministry and the American Legal System, praised at that time as "the best church and law text in print."

Dick was best known at the Christian Legal Society as a long-standing member of its Board of Directors and its President from 1998-2000.  But he became most beloved as an author who, while fighting cancer, wrote the Deuteronomy Project, a deeply devotional fictional account of an exhausted lawyer who is seeking meaning for his life from a wise, widowed pastor named Hal who loves roses and the wisdom of God found in the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy.   Dick dedicated the book, in part, to the "men and women of the Christian Legal Society, who [in Jesus' words] do not neglect the 'weightier matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness' (Matt.23:23)."

CLS' Executive Director Sam Casey who will be attending the memorial service tomorrow said: "We learned so much from Dick, including how to best live and wisely face our destiny with God. Determined not to 'waste his cancer' in cancer-survivor Pastor John Piper's words, Dick left us and his family the best of memories and Christian example, including a great book that teaches us how throughout the centuries the Word of God set forth in the Bible best transforms us for good when it catches our imagination and shows us how to apply its teachings to our daily lives."

Our brother in Christ, Dick Couser, is survived by his wife of 42 years, Linda, who Dick said in his dedication of the Deuteronomy Project was the "best spiritual director a man could have"; his brother, Dr. William Couser of Seattle; his daughter, Alison (Couser) Rhodes and her husband, Steven Rhodes; his son, Jonathan Couser and his wife, Yvette (Burnham); and seven grandchildren. His memorial service will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, September 30) at 2 p.m. at Centerpoint Church, 20 N. State St., Concord, NH, with a  reception to follow in the church commons

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

About Richard Couser's Life:  See his Obituary in the CONCORD MONITOR, September 29, 2008

About Richard Couser's books: Adam Cothes, Winepress Group, 360.802.9758, adam@winepressgroup.com

About Christian Legal Society (CLS): Samuel B. Casey, Christian Legal Society -- (703) 642-1070, ext. 3201; sbcasey@clsnet.org, www.clsnet.org.